Shooting Gazette, july 26, 2013
I acquired my first golden retriever from a farm near Wisbech in 1972 for £18. Out of an unregistered bitch’s third litter, he made the transition from chasing balls (after I came to realise what I might be able to do with him) to being a steady retriever who could be handled. Other than the occasional indiscretion (typical of dogs called Sam, according to June Atkinson), he could more than hold his own in Open Working Tests. More to the point, after we moved to Bath he showed a prodigious appetite for work, collecting thousands of birds over many seasons on the Castle Combe shoot with the sort of drive that many commented on.
Read more: http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/answers/gundogs-where-are-the-dual-champions-9575